Ending
by LH-chan
Summary: The Freedom Fighters thought they won the war at the end of Doomsday, but it wasn't the ending. For Sally, this is the ending. (SatAm-verse, deathfic, dark.) Honorable Mention in the Graffiti Wall Halloween fic contest. =^_^=


Author's Note: 

Guess what, I, like so many other fan-writers, completely fail to own any part of the Sonic Universe; it is, in fact, owned by its owners...who are so not me. =^_^= 

Anyway, time to dispense with any sort of cheerful banter, for this story is dark, very dark. Just when you thought SatAm had something of a happy ending, here comes LH-chan to wreck it for you. 

The timeline, a few days after Doomsday...   
  
  
Ending  
LH-chan '98-'02   
  
  
Sally opened her eyes slowly, her surroundings coming into focus as she woke. 

The dark room around her remained strangely distorted, even as her vision cleared, as though she was seeing it through curved glass. 

The realization struck her abruptly, and she sat bolt upright in spite of herself; banging her paws futilely against the curved glass of the roboticizer tube that held her. 

_Captured... I've been captured...._ Her mind reeled with the realization. Strangely, she didn't remember how or when.  
"At last, the Princess wakes," said a familiar nasal voice, distorted through the radio speaker that allowed Sally to hear beyond her prison.  
"Snively," growled Sally.  
"I was beginning to wonder if my robots had killed you after all," Snively continued.  
"Your robots? What are you talking about?" Sally was incredulous, every time she had encountered the small human, it had been as Robotnik's lackey...but Robotnik was dead...all of Knothole had been celebrating.  
"No I suppose you wouldn't remember much," Snively's words broke into Sally's thoughts. "You were knocked unconscious when my brilliant plan first took effect, weren't you?"  
"What? What plan?" Sally snapped, a sick feeling of foreboding beginning to overtake her.  
"But surely you must remember something," prodded Snively, "think Princess...you were celebrating your _victory_ with your friends." 

Sally tried...to think past her confusion and her throbbing head. 

She did remember. 

_Fireworks exploded high in the air, signaling the joy of the Knothole Freedom Fighters for miles around, as the celebration of long awaited freedom that had begun early that day continued into the night.  
She and Sonic retreated to the ring pond, to watch the fireworks; to find some peace and catch their breath after many hours of celebration, thronged by grateful crowds.  
Sonic put his arm around her shoulders, and she snuggled into the soft cobalt fur of his side...calm, together, and, greatest of all, free. _

The screaming started...the explosions; back in the center of the party!  
Sonic grabbed hold of her and ran...then a blinding flash...Sonic's voice screamed her name as he threw himself in front of her, as she was borne to the ground.... 

Sonic's voice again...softer...whispering...calling her name once more.... 

Then darkness, unconsciousness perhaps...Sally could remember no more. 

"No..." Sally stared though the glass at Snively's distorted figure. "You attacked us...but how? Sonic and I destroyed all of Robotnik's robots!"  
"Yes," agreed Snively, "but you did not destroy mine."  
"Yours?"  
"I had been planning to overthrow that fat oaf Robotnik for years," explained Snively, "and in that time I filled acres of hidden, underground, chambers below the city with my own robots. When I saw you and that hedgehog attacking with such fierce power, I retreated to my underground city, and let you take care of that sack of lard for me.  
"And when I emerged from my hiding place, completely unharmed, what did I see?" The human paused for emphasis, smiling with wicked pleasure.  
"I saw a sky full of lights; dazzling shapes and colors. A sky full of _fireworks!_"  


Sally gasped in horror. 

"Ah, you understand now," said Snively, triumph heavy in his voice. "They were like a beacon to me, those fireworks, like a map in the sky. Using them, it could have been no easier to locate your precious Knothole village; and to take it from you."  
"You won't get away with this," said Sally, her voice a shocked whisper. "Even if you took Knothole, Sonic and the other Freedom Fighters will still stop you!" 

Snively laughed, low, foreboding, and, worst of all, triumphant.  
"Although I served him, I am not Robotnik, Princess," he said, turning away to retrieve something Sally could not see clearly through the glass from a console top. "I do not see the need to make an example of each, and every one, of my enemies by insuring they are brought alive to the heart of my empire for roboticization. I much prefer my enemies dead." 

As he spoke, he threw the object he held forward, to land beside the glass of the roboticizer tube...close enough that sally could see it clearly.  
She gasped, and sunk to the floor of her prison with a sob, pressing her paws and face to the glass in horrified fascination, as though she might find something that would make this suddenly horrible thing unreal. 

But, no matter how she stared, or how she cried, it remained, solid, real, speaking painful volumes of fact.  
A single red sneaker, badly burned and coated in dark blood that nearly concealed the once white stripe that crossed its top.  
Sonic's shoe...there was no doubt in her mind.  
"No..." she whispered. "No...." 

"Yes," said Snively, "taken from his cold, dead, body.  
"My robots found him beside you, you know. I have it all on film. He must have thrown himself in front of you...given up his own life to be a shield for his Princess."  
Sally curled up against the glass, sobbing brokenly, unable to take her eyes from the ruined sneaker, her own memories confirming what Snively had said.  
She never saw Snively turn back to the console, nor did she hear the whine of the roboticizer's motors as Snively manipulated the controls. 

She only heard the sound of Sonic's voice as she had heard it last...a whisper in a broken world...still calling her name. 


End file.
